Telstra Signs 13 To Flesh Out Internet

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday January 9, 1998

By SUE LOWE

Seven months after launching its cable Internet service, Telstra has signed 13 web development companies to provide new content for the network.

Running at speeds 100 times faster than today's dial-up modems, the cable Internet service will enable near broadcast quality video and audio to be downloaded quickly and played painlessly.

As it did with the early take-up of pay TV services delivered over the same cable network, Telstra is keeping secret the number of cable Internet subscribers. Developers have been given the figure only after signing the contract and will be able to benefit further from Telstra's use of digital mapping and census information to work out the demographics of cable modem users.

Telstra's general manager of cable services, Ms Judy Slatyer, said most home users were "time-poor, higher income executives, `netheads' and creative information workers using the Internet to distribute work".

While 2.5 million homes and businesses in Sydney and Melbourne have access to pay TV via cable, only 1.3 million already have access to the additional server and router technology needed to connect to the Internet via cable.

With the number of consumers subscribed to Internet cable still small by Telstra's own admission, most of the 13 developers are focusing on business-to-business and internal corporate applications.

© 1998 Sydney Morning Herald

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